JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Trump broke a record last night with his epically long State of the Union address. He came into the speech with an underwater approval rating and with Republicans facing political headwinds in this year's midterm elections. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith joins us now to talk through the, let me get this right, 1 hour and 48-minute-long address. Hello.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hello. That was long, yes.
SUMMERS: It was long. And, Tam, we've covered a lot of these. So we know that this annual address, it's carefully crafted by the White House every time. It's always a huge political event. But will this one have much impact in the days and weeks ahead?
KEITH: Yeah, this is the biggest viewing audience a president typically gets in a year. But long gone are the days with, like, a shared national experience when the whole country tuned in for the State of the Union, and especially in this era of polarized politics. Trump was speaking more to his own voters than the country as a whole. And that was certainly reflected in his speech. Yes, there were these big bipartisan moments like the men's gold medal-winning USA hockey team getting cheered and service members getting awarded medals for their heroism. But so much of the speech seemed to have been set up to create moments that highlighted divisions.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: So tonight, I'm inviting every legislature to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
(CHEERING)
KEITH: Predictably, Republicans rose in a lengthy standing ovation and Democrats remained seated. What followed was one of many times the president went after Democrats for their response to something he said.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: Isn't that shame? You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.
KEITH: We counted at least eight times that he criticized Democrats directly for not applauding. And in one case, when he called them crazy, the scolding had actually been in the script, in the prepared remarks that had been distributed in advance.
SUMMERS: Interesting. OK, so you mentioned all of these sort of made-for-TV moments. But in the end, did this speech do much to advance the president's case to voters or to change the way that people view him?
KEITH: Well, he certainly cemented himself as the TV producer in chief. And this speech did a good job of capturing a bit of the style of his typical rally performances while ditching some of the wildest weaves, as he called it. But he really didn't introduce ambitious new policy proposals. And when it came to the economy, he didn't say there was more work to do or suddenly start channeling the pain of voters. Instead, he boasted of a transformation like no one has ever seen before. And he doubled down on his tariffs, the bulk of which were just thrown out by the Supreme Court.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
TRUMP: So despite the disappointing ruling, these powerful, country-saving - it's saving our country, the kind of money we're taking in - peace-protecting - many of the wars I settled was because of the threat of tariffs, I wouldn't have been able to settle them without - will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes.
KEITH: And a reminder, tariffs are widely unpopular.
SUMMERS: And as we know, this is a midterm election - your control of Congress is on the line. What does this all tell us about how he plans to message during this campaign?
KEITH: If the State of the Union is an indicator, it's going to be a lot more of here's what we've done than forward-looking, here's what we're going to do in the future to make your lives better. All of the Democrats are crazy, and they should be ashamed stuff is also part of his midterm pitch, portraying the party as out of touch and extreme, which was quite effective for Trump in 2024. And there was another moment in this speech I have to mention because if past is prologue, we're going to hear more of it. Trump said of Democrats, quote, "they want to cheat, they have cheated, and their policy is so bad that the only way that they can get elected is to cheat." That is a wild accusation and not based in fact.
SUMMERS: NPR's Tamara Keith. Thanks.
KEITH: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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